Sword Art Online Fanfic
by bubblecorn
Summary: It's a fanfic. About Sword Art Online. It doesn't have any of the characters from SAO and it's following a different person.
1. Chapter 1

I raced up the staircase, two at a time, and dashed into my room, closing the door behind me.

I checked that the Sword Art Online disk was in the disk reader (of course it was) and that it was connected to the nerve gear which resembled a black motorbike helmet.

I eagerly jammed the nerve gear onto my head and flopped onto my bed, my eyes flicked to the little digital clock in the corner of the screen. It read; 13:58.

I waited for what seemed like ages, barely able to contain my excitement.

The clock changed to 13:59 and my heart skipped a beat. Just one more measly minute... I counted the seconds, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five... Come on, come on! Fourty eight, fourty nine, fifty, fifty one, fifty two, fifty three-!

Just as I reached fifty three, the clock turned to 19:00.

Two o'clock!

Yes!

"Link start!" I said out loud, voicing the command necessary for activating the nerve gear.

The nerve gear ran an assortment of various checks and verifications before displaying in front of me a large notice reading; 'Login details required'

I looked around, I appeared to be suspended in mid-air surrounded by white with computer code shifting and retyping around me. That was the clever way the nerve gear worked. It created a completely believable and virtual world around you that you felt, smelled, saw, heard and even tasted as though you were really in it.

The nerve gear worked by intercepting your brain signals and moving your avatar's body so it was as though you were actually in the game.

I turned my attention back to the login notice. A transparent, blue, qwerty keyboard materialised in front of me with an echoing 'ping' sound.

Login:

'Beck' I typed. Beck was actually my surname but I wasn't a very imaginative person and it served me well as a username.

Password:

'* * * * * * * * ' the screen typed as I routinely tapped the keys.

'Access confirmed, User: Beck' The screen displayed, 'User history recovered, would you like to use your previous avatar? Yes/no'

I tapped the 'yes' button, relieved that I didn't have to go through the tedious avatar design again.

Suddenly, I was transported for a second at a breakneck speed.

Then I was stood there, the babble of human voices surrounding me. Everything was blurry but as my vision cleared, I looked around and found myself in the plaza at the centre of the town of beginnings.

I laid my hands out in front of me and examined them, fisting and splaying them, slowly adjusting to the slightly disorientating feeling of being in the body of my avatar.

I gave a happy sigh. I was here again. I was in Sword Art Online.

Since I had been a beta tester (one of the one thousand lucky people to be selected to test out Sword Art Online before it was officially released), I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing. I began to walk, slowly adjusting to the feeling of being in the game, the feeling numbness slowly melting away.

My avatar looked deliberately nothing like me. In game I appeared about seventeen or eighteen years old, had brown eyes and brown hair. I liked the fact that I didn't look like the real me in SAO. It made me feel safer, it helped me forget the real world, it made me feel less me and more somebody else.

Video gaming was my escape. I loved SAO because I could be whoever I wanted.

I clenched my fist.

I was going to make people notice me.

I was going to get strong and then everyone would acknowledge me.

From now on I was going to play SAO like a maniac 'till I was the strongest player. Then people would know my name, I would be relevant.

My first order of business was to reach level two, then level three. I started to run towards the town gates, and the way to the first monster-inhabited area. There, I could earn Exp defeating monsters and I could also practice my sword skills a little more.

(break)

I took a battle-ready position, facing the monster.

'Wild boar' the caption above the monster read.

Boars were SAO's weakest monsters, and great for levelling up against.

The monster recognised my challenge.

It gave a grunt and began to charge towards me. I smiled, loving the feeling of being back in Sword Art Online. I felt excited.

The boar barrelled towards me.

I stepped to the side and pivoted upon my left foot, easily moving out of the monster's path as it missed me, clumsily. This was it, this was what I played for. That feeling of freedom, I relished the feeling of battling again.

The monster began to turn around for a next attack but I didn't give it a chance.

In one flowing, practiced motion, I unsheathed my sword from the sheath strapped to my back and raised it up, pausing momentarily to activate a sword skill.

My sword glowed red with the sword skill and I dashed forwards, lightning fast, weapon held in front of me, slashing the boar right the way across the side as I passed it.

The boar let out a squeal and exploded into a shatter of glittering blue pixels like smashed glass.

A little smile snuck its way across my lips.

I twirled my sword around once before sheathing it, smoothly.

"How'd you do that?" I heard a quiet voice from behind me murmur.

I whirled around.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

A boy stepped out from behind a nearby tree, shyly.

He appeared to be about the same age as me in real life, about thirteen or fourteen years old. He had blonde hair and blue eyes that studied my every move, warily.

"Who are you?" I demanded, short temperedly.

"Uh, Rin. Nice to meet you I think." He said, slowly, eyeing me watchfully.

I relaxed as I realised that the boy must be a new player.

"What do you want?" I asked, slightly annoyed by the way that the boy was acting- as though I was going to bite his arm off at any moment.

"Could you- could you maybe show me how to do that?" Rin asked, timidly.

I sighed and nodded, I had better things to do but showing this kid how to use a sword skill couldn't hurt.

A look of both surprise and delight crossed Rin's face, as though he had been expecting me to turn him down. He quickly glanced down at his feet.

"I'm Beck." I said, introducing myself. I held my hand out for Rin to shake and he took it, cautiously.

(break)

The next hour or so, I spent teaching Rin how to use a sword skill.

"You bring your sword back, like you're going to attack, like this." I said, giving a demonstration, "Then you pause for a moment, and you can feel the energy of the sword skill building up." I instructed, my sword began to glow with a red light. "Then-" I suddenly slashed my sword forwards, attacking a nearby boar. The unsuspecting monster squealed and shattered into a scatter of blue pixels. "-you attack." I finished.

Rin nodded, a look of determination painted on his face.

He turned to the nearest boar and unsheathed the sword from the sheath at his waist.

He tested the sword's weight in his hands briefly, giving me the impression that he had fought with a sword before, then swung the sword back, ready for an attack, just as I had instructed him.

He slowed for a moment just as the sword reached its furthest point and a green light began to softly halo the weapon.

Suddenly, Rin gave a yell and bought the sword forwards with impressive speed and slashed out at the creature.

The boar gave a high-pitched grunt and exploded into shimmering blue particles.

"I did it." He said, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, well done." I said. "Next one then."

(break)

Rin collapsed onto the ground, bored.

"Okay that's the eighth one!" He complained, "Can we stop for a bit?"

I thought for a moment, then pinched my right thumb and index finger together and swiped downwards in front of me, bringing up the transparent, blue, glasslike main menu.

'5:28' The little digital clock in the corner read.

I closed the menu and turned to Rin, "It's half five, you're right, we should probably take a break." I said.

He nodded, "I'm really hungry, too."

I smiled, "The food here, in SAO only makes you think you're full, you should probably go offline to eat if you really are hungry."

Rin shook his head, "No it's ok, don't worry."

I gave a shrug.

"Hey, I've got an idea, will you add me to your friends list?" Rin asked, eagerly.

"Sure." I replied.

"Great!" Said Rin, he opened the main menu the same way I had and selected 'friends' then 'add friend'. A popup window appeared in front of me saying 'would you like to add this player to your friends list? X/O'

I tapped the blue 'O' button.

Just at that moment, I became surrounded in a blue light.

"What's happening?" Rin exclaimed.

"I don't know," I shouted back, "this isn't supposed to happen!"

The blue light around me grew brighter and brighter until I couldn't see a thing.

Finally, the light began to fade.

I glanced around.

I was back in the plaza, in the town of beginnings.

What?

Had I just teleported?

But I was sure I hadn't done, at least on purpose.

What was happening?

I looked around.

There were thousands of people, all muttering and whispering, nervously.

I began to feel very uneasy, why would everyone be rounded up like this in the plaza? And where was Rin?


	2. Chapter 2

I glanced around, nervously searching for some sign of Rin.

I couldn't see him anywhere.

It looked as though we had been completely split up.

I looked up and my eyes caught something.

What was that?

A blinking red light. In the sky.

I narrowed my eyes to try and see it better.

It looked like a flashing red hexagon shape.

What was it?

It said something. I couldn't quite read it.

I squinted.

'Warning'

Warning? Warning for what?

People around me were starting to murmur and point at the little red warning sign.

Suddenly, the shape multiplied into hundreds of other little hexagons, the mass growing above our heads into thousands and blocking out the sky.

Soon the red hexagons blocked out all glimpse of the sky. It covered us like a huge, red dome.

"What on earth is going on?" A guy next to me whispered.

I just shrugged, my eyes fixed upwards.

Something was happening. A figure was starting to take form.

It began to mould itself into the shape of… a man?

It was a man, a man wearing a hooded cloak that shadowed his face completely.

He stood towered, suspended above us for a moment.

"Who is that?"

"Is he the boss?"

"Is this supposed to happen?"

"Is this a bug?" Voices around me muttered, anxiously.

"Attention, players." The man said, commandingly. His voice echoed around the plaza. "I welcome you to my world."

Everyone fell deadly silent.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba" The man continued, "And, as of this moment, _I _am in control of this world."

My heart began to pound. What was this? A ransom?

The name. Akihiko Kayaba. I was sure I had heard it before. But where from?

"Seriously? It can't be." The guy next to me said, under his breath.

"What?" I asked, "Who is this guy?"

"Kayaba Akihiko! You must have heard of him! He's the guy who wrote Sword Art Online!"

It hit me.

Of _course_!How could I have forgotten?

"But why would he be doing this?"

"Beats me, whatever it is. I have a bad feeling though."

"I am sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus." Kayaba continued, interrupting our thoughts, "The logout button."

A shiver ran down my spine. The logout button was the only way out of Sword Art Online. Without it, we were trapped like rats.

"Let me assure you, this is not a defect of the game." Akihiko Kayaba said, bringing his own menu down in front of him to demonstrate.

"I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be"

A wave of muttering washed over the crowd, ominously.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the nerve gear from your head.

If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the nerve gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

There was a moment of silence as the audience tried to take this in.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a young girl, "This-this can't be real!" She cried, and suddenly broke down in tears.

That was it. With that, the crowd broke out into chaos.

Some people shouted out that Kayaba Akihiko was crazy, others yelled about how stupid the game was, saying it was all just a dumb prank.. Others tried to bolt, they tried to force their way through the wall of red hexagons covering from all sides but to no avail.

"Despite my warning," Kayaba continued, ignoring the clamour, "Some of the families and friends of players have attempted removing the nerve gear, an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They have been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

"Two hundred… and thirteen." I repeated, blankly. This couldn't be real, this couldn't happen.

Computer windows began to pop up around Kayaba, each displaying a different news channel.

"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything. _Including _the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of the nerve gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game."

I clenched my fists. Clear the game? Yeah right, who did this guy think he was?

"It's important to remember the following;" Kayaba began, "There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever. And the nerve gear will simultaneously destroy your brain. "

If I died, it was game over. That was it.

Somehow my head just didn't seem to absorb this information.

I imagined how a simple mistake, a tiny slipup could mean my death.

My memories from the beta test flooded my mind. The number of times I had died. To survive in the game without dying _once_ would be impossible!

Suddenly, it hit me like a punch. If I died in SAO then I died in _real life_.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn this stupid game!" I muttered.

"There is only one way for a player to escape now."

I glanced up, a meagre hope lighting in me, half knowing what was coming next but hoping against it.

"You must clear the game."

My arms fell limply to my sides, I released my clenched fists, weakly. This was it. I was going to die.

Kayaba bought up a 3D map of Aincrad with an echoing 'ping' sound.

"Right now, you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred, and you will clear the game.

A muttering ran through the crowd again, "Clear it? What's he talking about?"  
"Are we seriously supposed to clear the game?"  
"What?"  
"Even the beta testers couldn't do that!"  
"Why would he do this?"  
"Why should we believe any of this crap!?"

"Last but not least, I have placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

With a puzzled expression, I swiped down to bring up my main menu, I clicked on my profile, then 'items'.

A mirror?

I tapped 'mirror' from the items menu and the pocket sized, reflective glass appeared in front of me. I took it in my hand and looked into it.

Nothing unexpected. I saw my avatars face looking back at me.

Suddenly, people around me began to become enveloped in a bright light. I whirled around, trying to work out what was happening before I too became surrounded by a nearly dazzling white.

The light took a few moments to clear. I glanced around, nervously. What had happened? Had we teleported again?

Suddenly, the person next to me cried out, "What is this?" He exclaimed, staring down at the mirror in his hand.

Nearly dropping the mirror, I fumbled to try and hold it to my face.

When I saw I really did drop it, it fell to the ground and shattered into hundreds of pixels.

That wasn't my avatar staring back through the mirror, that was _me_, as in, actually _me._

I thought SAO would be an escape.  
My only comfort had been that I could treat this like a dream, like someone else's dream, even.

How could this happen?


	3. Chapter 3

I was fourteen years old and relatively average-looking. I had messy dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. Nothing about me was at all remarkable, and I was pretty much the textbook definition of a gamer my age.

"Right now," Said Akihiko, "You are probably wondering why.  
Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and nerve gear do this?  
Ultimately, my goal was a simple one.  
The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.  
As you can see, I have achieved my goal."

He raised his arms, "This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online.  
Players. I wish you the best of luck."  
With that final message, he began to fade away.  
The moment he disappeared, the sky returned to normal and sunshine filtered the plaza, the dome of hexagons gone. The players were now free to leave.

No one moved.  
There was a stunned silence. No one knew exactly what to do.  
What happened now?

"Well," The guy next to me muttered, "We're fucked."

I just nodded, absently staring into the sky.  
He turned to me, "Hey kid," He said, "What's your name?"

It took me a moment to register that he was talking to me. In my confusion, I almost told him my first name.

"Beck."  
"Want to team up?"  
I blinked, taken back.  
"Way I see it," The man reasoned, "The more we work together here, the better. I was a beta tester, So I sort of know how this game works and believe me, the quicker you find allies, the better off you are."

Knowing the beta test too, I figured he was right.  
During the beta test, I had been part of a guild named 'Runeguard'. The guild members had changed a lot throughout the game, as it had been one of the top-ranking guilds and had surprisingly few members, hence its status as 'exclusive', it had been known as one of those guilds only the best players could get into.

"Yeah," I replied finally, "just wait a sec, I'll add you."

I selected the 'request friend' icon from the menu and a popup window appeared in front of the man.

He selected the 'O' button and his name appeared on my friends list, above Rin.

"Kamren" I read out. He nodded.  
The man was probably in his early twenties, he had that look of a dedicated gamer and I immediately knew he would be a valuable ally. He was probably one of the more experienced beta testers.

"I have another friend I met earlier, I should probably find him, he can help us too."

"Is he good?"  
"No, not really, I had to help him with the basics. I should probably look for him anyway, though."

Kamren shrugged, "Sure, more the better, right?"

From my friends list, I selected Rin's name, then 'message player'.

"Hi, Rin? Are you there?"  
"Beck! Where are you?" A voice in my head replied, sounding relieved.  
"I'm at the southern end of the plaza, come find me, if you can't recognise me, I'm right by the fountain, I still have the same gear so you shouldn't have too much trouble." And I ended the chat.

It took a few minutes, but we finally found each other.  
I spotted him first, he was wearing the same items and his avatar looked similar to his real self so it wasn't that hard, not to mention the fact he was wondering around searching for someone, looking lost.

I waved and caught his attention and he came towards us, "Beck!" He said, "is that you? Did you see that guy earlier, the one in the sky, what was all that about?"  
I shook my head, "Don't know exactly, seems we're stuck here though, have you tried logging out?"

Rin nodded, "Yeah, the logout button isn't even there! Check it yourself."  
I did, I brought down the menu and clicked on 'options'.  
Sure enough, there was an empty space where the logout button should have been.  
I tried selecting it but nothing happened.

With a sigh I closed the menu, "Yup, we're stuck here."

A look of panic crossed Rin's face, "This is crazy, this can't really be happening! I mean, what do we do?"

"Looks like we have to complete the game." Kamren said, next to me.  
Rin looked at him, surprised, as though he hadn't noticed him earlier, "Oh, sorry, are you Beck's friend?"  
He nodded, "We just met, I invited him 'cause I'm going to start a guild so I'm collecting allies."  
"Oh, ok."  
"Want me to add you too?"  
"Sure, if that's ok with you, though." Rin said, sounding nervous, "But would you mind telling me what a guild is first?"

Kamren gave me a glance, "Guilds are official groups formed by players who play through raids and battles together, playing in a guild is a lot more efficient than playing solo. It will be a lot safer too, since if what Akihiko said is true then we die if we get knocked out in-game."

With that, he sent Rin a friend request and after no thought, Rin accepted.

"Good, so now we have four people." Kamren said.

"Who is the fourth?" I asked.

"My sister, Anwen, she should be around here somewhere to."

He held out his arm, "About so tall, brown hair, pigtails, if you see someone like that, give me a shout. Just wait here a moment." And with a nod, he left us.

"So what do you think is going on?" Rin asked me, after a while, "Do you believe this Akihiko guy?"  
I gave a moment's thought, "Yeah," I said, finally, "I've seen too much evidence to think he's lying, the nerve gear and stuff, it all works exactly how he said, using microwave signals to intercept your brainwaves, if the safety function was removed, the nerve gear could easily kill you in milliseconds. And all this," I gestured around us, people were muttering urgently, some were panicking, some were even in hysterics, "this all seems way too serious to be a joke."  
Rin's expression turned serious, "So that means our only way out… is to clear SAO." This wasn't a question, everything that had happened, everything that had occurred so far was all real, this was a game, we were the players, and the situation was either win or die.

At that moment, Kamren turned up again, making us both jump in surprise, "Having a serious moment here are we? I'll give you some advice, don't take this thing too seriously, you might find it just makes you depressed."

"Kamren, you're back!" Rin exclaimed, "You find her, your sister?"

Kamren moved aside, standing behind him was a girl of maybe fourteen or fifteen years of age, she was just as Kamren had described her. She gave us a smile, "Hi, I'm Anwen."

"Beck."  
"I'm Rin."

Anwen bought up her menu, sending us both friend invitations, "Kamren told me about you guys, we're forming a guild, right?"

Rin and I both accepted the invitations, and I saw Anwen's name appear in my friends list.

"Four people, that should be enough for the time being." Kamren said, "So right now what we should do is move on to the next town, the earlier we get there, the easier it's gonna be to find quests and get experience, the beta testers are going to be the first guys there so if we get there too we might be able to keep up with them. If we wait around here then they will have already cleared the quests and monsters on the way and we will have a hard time getting anything."

I nodded, "Sounds like a good idea."


End file.
